Crackson (AU Owen Hunt never came back from Iraq)
by Grey's Anatomy Addict
Summary: Cristina wants someone in her life, not an intern but a man. When the merger comes, a new relationship blossoms.
1. Chapter 1 - Slow progress

Cristina sat alone in Joe's bar. Meredith and Derek had just left, their tiff was over, all he needed to do was apologise and bring her a kidney from today's Domino Surgery. Damn. She really wanted a kidney, and she did ask first, oh well. Downing her drink she placed it on the counter, grabbed her coat and stood up. "You leaving already?" asked Joe. "There are no real men left in the world Joe" she replied, putting her coat on. She turned towards the door and headed out into the cold street, alone. As she slowly ascended the dirty concrete staircase, she wondered when she would find someone; not some intern to sleep with but someone, her McDreamy. God, did she just think that. She was adamant that she needed to forget about that, surgery made her happy, hearts made her happy, but never the emotional one. She didn't need a man; she knew that already; although she did want to be happy like Mere. As she approached the curb, she pushed these thoughts to the back of her head and refused to acknowledge that they ever entered her mind.

**A few weeks later**

Cristina hated those annoying Mercy Westers. Parasites, that's what Mere had called them, parasites that stole their surgeries and sucked up to the attendings. They were taking over the hospital in their ugly orange scrubs. She hated them; this was not their hospital. She especially hated Jackson Avery. That idiot who was sleeping with his friends daughter, she saved him; she saved him with proper medical attention. Although she saved his life, when the father charged at him in a rage and Jackson tackled him to the ground he got a standing ovation and the idiot, that she saved, wanted to thank him, for saving his life.

Raising her gaze from his patient file she scanned the ER, her glare quickly subsided when her eyes fell upon Jackson, causing her expression to quickly soften. A grin was plastered over his face as he sat beside some old lady's bedside as he stitched up the gash on her arm. Even from afar, she could see his technique was flawless. It was becoming harder to hate him. He paused for a moment to adjust his stethoscope and Cristina found herself watching his every move with intense focus. A single voice penetrated her thoughts, she quickly turned her attention away for Jackson, she swivelled to face Lexie who said, "I teased her about the diary." "Who?" Holding up April Kepner's red notebook Lexie stared at the ground in shame. "Did she cry?" Cristina asked. A slight change in Lexie's demeanour answered the question without any verbal acknowledgement. "Nice work, didn't think you had it in you." Cristina said with a chuckle, that was one point to them. "Cristina!" Lexie said in a harsh tone, seemingly now mad at her. Inhaling sharply, Lexie pivoted and headed towards her patients room walking with purpose. With a smile still on Cristina's lips, she turned to glance at Jackson.

She discovered that he had finished stitching up the old lady's gash and had begun to slowly back away from her, to initiate the end of their tedious conversation. Her smile widened as she could see the obvious pain in his expression, this woman had probably talked him half to death no doubt about tales of her grandkids, causing him to retreat as fast as physically possible. Her smile was transitioning into a laugh when she realised he was heading towards and she suddenly felt, no. Cristina Yang did not blush. Crap. She quickly placed her patients file on the desk in front of her, turned and headed towards Mere's room, she had to get him out of her head.

**A few hours later**

Well that didn't work as well as she expected it to. Having talked to Mere about the Mercy Westers, not about Jackson though, she was now on her way to the Residents lounge to take a shower and change her scrubs, she hated being on call. She may have a messy locker and apartment, but she in herself was a neat person and she hated sleeping in dirty day old scrubs, when she could control it anyway. She had gotten Jackson out of her head, for now anyway, he was the enemy, but at least he wasn't an intern. She found the room empty, grabbing her stuff she headed to the shower. After 5 relaxing minutes of the warm water running over her she was now ready to get some sleep. She dried off quickly, got changed and pulled her wet hair into a bun as she headed towards the Residents lounge. Stuffing her stuff back in her cubbyhole, she heard the door open behind her. Without turning, she grabbed her pager from her cubbyhole she attached it to her scrubs and headed to the washing basket, dropping her towel in one and her dirty scrubs in the other. As she walked back to her cubbyhole, she could feel eyes on back, and somebody rustling around behind her. "Dr Yang, right?" She turned to find Jackson Avery standing in front of her, looking him up and down she turned silently away from her. Slowly exhaling, she grabbed her coat, and walked towards the door, "Yes." She said as she shut the door behind her. With how she was currently feeling, she could not trust herself to be in a room alone with him for much longer. She couldn't see it, but as she left, Jackson was watching her intently, with a strange look in his eyes.

**A few days later**

"Can I buy you a drink?" a voice behind her asked, "Excuse me?" Cristina said turning around, to find Jackson standing directly behind her. "Well uhm." His confidence was broken as she was glaring into his eyes, he fidgeted slightly and tried to push through, "We uh, work together, today, we." Her glare melted and slowly changed to pity, this gave him the push he needed, "We have been working together for a few days now, I was just." "No." "Oh." Cristina paid for her drinks, picked them up and headed towards the table where Mere was sitting waiting. She sat down and passed Mere her drink, "I can't believe you are drinking water a bar Mere." "Blame Lexie and her stupid don't kill my daddy eyes. Now what was that about.." she gestured towards Jackson who was now standing alone at the bar. Making sure her expression didn't give away anything she turned to face Mere, took a sip of her drink and shrugged her shoulders, "Lonely Mercy Westers, no friends to chat to I guess." Mere chuckled and looked down at her phone for about the millionth time in the last 5 minutes, "Just go." "But." Cristina gave Mere a look, causing her to smile, grab her stuff and stand up, "See you tomorrow?" "Sure."

Watching Mere walk out of the bar Cristina felt a wave of sadness wash over her, Mere was her soul mate but Derek was the love of her life, and he needed her now, he always seemed to; she hated having to share her person. She looked up to find that Jackson was no longer at the bar, but a quick scan of the bar discovered that he was playing a game of darts with Alex and Nose Dive. Sighing she got up and walked over to Alex. Taking the darts out of Alex's hand she nudged him out of her way and lined up her shot, "Yang, think you can beat me?" he quipped. "$50 says I can." Alex smiled, Cristina wasn't like Mere with her 'support' but she came when she needed to, and was helping him with the Izzie thing in her own way. Twenty minutes later Cristina made her way towards the staircase, $50 richer and this time she knew that she had Jackson's full attention, not her main aim, but subconsciously she didn't doubt it was a motive. She smiled, knowing that the eyes she felt on her back were from him.

**A few days later**

Leaving the party, Cristina headed to her room with a beer in her hand, she wanted to escape the noise and have a moment to herself to just, breathe. She shut her bedroom door behind her, and looking up saw Jackson walking out of her bathroom with a drink in his hand, "Yang" he said with a smile on his face. God he had a gorgeous smile. Walking towards her he kept talking, "Doctor, can I Cristina you? Or are we not there yet?" She looked up at him and shook her head. His smile was wiped from his face but he did his best to keep his composure. "No, okay. Doctor Yang." Taking a deep breathe he was now only centimetres away from her. Taking a step closer, he continued to talk, "Let me just tell you that, that was incredibly hot in the OR yesterday." Cristina started to laugh, usually compliments didn't affect her, but she could tell that Jackson was hitting on her, she could always tell, well excluding Mark Sloan. But Jackson was different, she liked the attention. Encouraged by her reaction he added, "Very, deeply hot. It was hot, you are hot."

Raising her gaze from the ground Cristina looked up at Jackson again as he took another mouthful of beer, "Uh, you're drunk and you're in my room" she said with a tone of hopefulness in her voice, it had been a long time. "I am in fact inebriated. That's legal. And even if I wasn't, you're the rule breaker, which I think we established in surgery." Cristina watched him take another mouthful of beer as she replied, "Really you think that was hot?" with a slight smile on her face, and what Jackson perceived to be a look of eagerness. He put his beer down on her dresser he tried to guess what she was thinking. Biting his lip, he looked her up and down for a moment before answering her, "Would it be really really bad if I just, you know because of the whole embolism thing and you in general…" Cristina placed her drink on the dresser, and by doing so placed herself between Jackson and a wall. "Can I just…" Jackson trailed off as her leant forward to kiss her.

He pushed her right up against the wall with his hands on her hips and she began to reciprocate, kissing his lips hungrily and running her hands up his arms, towards his shoulders and draping them around his neck. She moved her hips into his, amazed at how well they seemed to fit together, she began to slowly grind against them. Raising his hands slightly he played with the bottom of her shirt, rolling its fabric between his fingers as he slowly pulled it up, revealing her bare torso and then breaking their kiss for a moment, he pulled it over her head. He lowered his gaze to stare at what he just unwrapped, like presents on Christmas morning, he couldn't decide what to unwrap next. Cristina watched Jackson bite his lower lip as his eyes brushed over her, feeling like she deserved something in return, she unwrapped her hands from around his neck, lowered them down to his belt and with her dainty fingers, she expertly pulled Jackson's shirt off and leant forward to kiss him. He lowered his hands to her belt and quickly unbuttoned her jeans, her hands met his and she whispered onto his mouth, "Take yours off." Nodding, he unbuttoned his jeans and took them off as fast as he could; he had been waiting for this for weeks. He then took off his shoes and socks and threw them onto of his jeans that were lying on the floor next to Cristina's recently removed clothes.

Wrapping her arms around his neck again she pulled him in for a kiss and running her tongue along his lip, she quickly gained entry. His hands found their way down her torso, over her hips and to her upper thighs, pushing himself towards her more, he grabbed her just underneath her butt and lifted her off the floor. Without breaking their kiss Cristina lifted her legs up and wrapped them around Jacksons waist. Pushed against the wall, with her legs wrapped around him, her tongue in his mouth and his hands exploring her body she felt more comfortable than she had felt in a long time.

They remained there for a few minutes, kissing each other with passion and a need for something more, before Cristina broke the kiss, leant forward and whispered in his ear, "For this next part, it works better if we're on a first name basis." A smile crossed his lips as he walked backwards, turned and slowly lowered her onto the bed below him. Knelling over her, he paused for a moment, "Cristina." She grinned at the mention of her name. Utilising this moment she used her foot to knock his balance and as he tumbled, she rolled over on top of him. "Forever in control." He quipped. "Just how I like it" She remarked as she leant down to resume kissing.

…

To be continued, if more is requested.

I hope you enjoy


	2. Chapter 2 - The Morning After

**Crackson Chapter Two:**

**Hope you all enjoyed chapter one**

**This one will be a lot shorter and I hope that you love it.**

**Let me know what you think(:**

The sun shone through the window onto Cristina's face. Squinting at the sun, she looked at the time, 5.27. Refusing to rise with the day, she rolled over, blindly placing her hand in front of her, having it unexpectedly land onto the bed. That woke her up. She opened her eyes completely now, staring at the empty bed lying in front of her. Sitting up she looked around her room. A single sheet covered her naked body; the rest of her bedding was sprawling on the floor at the foot of the bed. Her curtains were open, letting the sun stream in wishing her a good morning. They were shut last night, so Jackson must of opened them when he woke up, which meant that hopefully he was still here. Pillows were scattered over floor, and her room was more of a tip than usual; hard evidence that last night really happened, not a figment of her imagination, conjured up by her subconscious in her lonely, drunken state.

Her dresser had two empty beer bottles sitting next to each other; she smiled fondly at the memory of what happened shortly after their owners placed them there. Her gaze travelled down to the floor, causing her smile to widen as she saw the pile of clothes still lying on the floor. The only thing missing was Jackson's jeans that lay underneath her jeans, keeping them company, his grey top however remained on the floor. Crawling over the mattress, she leant over to the end of the bed, grabbed his shirt off the ground. Oddly, she pulled it towards her face, inhaling before pulling it over her head, it smelt like him. Realising she was missing something she tumbled off the bed, and checked below it; smiling she stretched her arm out, grabbed her undies, stood up, slipped them on and headed out her bedroom door in search of Jackson.

Her feet disliked the transition from the soft carpet in her room and the cold hard wooden floor of the living room. She found Jackson standing in the kitchen with her back to her, his shirtless back. Funny that, considering she was wearing it now. Leaning against the wall Cristina felt a smile spread across her face; around her the apartment was nice and neat, nothing left from Arizona's surprise party. Doing a quick scan of the room, she could not see a single party popper, empty bottle, unwashed plate or crumb lying on the carpet. She had completely missed the tidying, which would make Callie mad, as she did promise she would help. But she would understand as she had much better things to do. Literally.

Breathing silently she remained leaning against the wall watching Jackson for a few seconds before she spoke, "I thought you left." He moved slightly, not expecting to hear her voice behind him, without turning he answered, "Did you want me to?" his voice sounded shaky almost, as if he wasn't sure. Almost as if he didn't know how Cristina felt about him. Although she thought, she made it very clear to him last night, again and again and again. She thought she saw his body stiffen, as he stood there, unanswered. Usually she didn't mind when someone was left insecure, she felt no reason to reassure them, but this was different.

Silently, her feet moved across the wooden floor towards him. Reaching him, she went up onto her tiptoes and placed her arms over his shoulders, her hands lightly running over his torso, until they hung, draped over him. Her fingers recalled his body from last night; they remembered each feature of his chest and his stomach that her hands had already thoroughly explored. She took a deep breathe, breathing him in, before she whispered into his ear, "I want you to come back to bed." She bent her neck slightly, leaning to begin lightly nibbled on his earlobe, in doing so she could feel a smile break onto his lips. Placing his coffee cup onto the bench he turned to face her, kissing her, desperately, as if he hadn't kissed her in weeks.

Jackson once again grabbed her just below the ass, pulling her up towards her, and in reply, Cristina wrapped her legs around his waist. A stream of memories came back to her, a strong feeling of déjà vu. Not wanting an exact replica of last night, Jackson took two steps forward and gently placed Cristina onto the empty counter top next to the sink. Her undies didn't do much to stop the cold spreading over her ass, up her back and down her legs, but she was otherwise occupied, and wasted no thought on the sudden wave drop in temperature. She would be hot and sweaty soon anyway. Kissing Jackson, she brought her arms down from around his neck, skimming down his torso she quickly arrived at the top of his jeans. She could feel that he was ready for her.

Without breaking his kiss she unzipped his jeans and peeled the down, letting them drop to the floor around his ankles. In turn, Jackson began slowly pulling his top off her, revealing more of her beautiful body, inch by inch. He broke the kiss, "It looks better on you than it ever did on me. But you look much better without it" he said as he pulled it over her head. Feeling deprived of her lips; he leant down to resume kissing, once again gaining entrance for his tongue. Cristina's fingers rested on the top of his briefs for only a second before she began to unroll them. She had only just started when he lightly placed his hands on top of hers forcing her to stop, he broke her kiss once again.

She lowered her hands as he opened his mouth to speak, "Callie.. is she?" he said, whilst a quite moan of pleasure escaped his lips. "At the hospital, with Arizona" Cristina quickly answered, not wanting to wait any longer. In answer Jackson pulled back slightly, and moved his hands to her waist, "This time I'm in charge." He whispered into her ear, the current position of his hands eliciting a moan of pleasure. Torn between wanting to remain in charge and to give in to his wandering hands, she hesitated for a moment. Moving his hands only slightly, she moaned again, breaking the tie, forcing to give in, wrapping her arms around his neck, and kissing his lips, hungrily wanting more.

…


	3. Chapter 3 - Back at Work

Crackson Chapter Three:

Thank you for all the positive feedback and I hope that you enjoyed the first two chapters and that you will enjoy this chapter :)  
Sorry for the long wait  
As usual let me know what you think, if demand is there I will write another chapter for you all :)  
Enjoy !

It was strange, for the first time in months Cristina felt happy. Walking down the street, she smiled, she was smiling and she made her feel powerful. She had a perfect night and a perfect morning with Jackson and now she was heading to work to cut some people up. Everything was right in the world. She loved surgery more than anything in the world, but she felt that that could change, Jackson was perfect. Was this how Mere felt with McDreamy, Derek at the beginning, the bit that came after the initial one nightstand. Mere. God, she couldn't wait to tell her all about Jackson. She was her person, telling her made things real, and she so badly wanted this to be real. As she made her way to the hospital, she couldn't help but recall the details of that morning.

_She felt so comfortable lying in Jackson's arms, she felt safe, as if she belonged in them she had never felt more at home. The sun was glaring down on her, no longer cruel and blinding as it had been on past mornings but welcoming and friendly. Gazing out the window she smiled as a flock of birds flew past her window and the bare trees swayed in the wind. Lying there she thought about how much she loved Autumn, the in between season, transitioning, just like her. Not that you could really distinguish between the seasons here in Seattle with all the rain, most people hated the rain, but not her she loved it. She loved how it gave the day a mood; she loved watching stupid simple woman running through the rain with their hands up covering their new dye jobs, perms, straightened perfect fringes. She found joy as they shrieked when a car drove past, splashing the massive puddle all over the Dolce Gabbana dress and Louis Vuitton handbag, she didn't think she made it a bad person. She found joy in the small things in life. She loved how lying in bed with Jackson felt so relaxing, his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her into him. Usually she hated to spoon, she always considered herself as a knife but with Jackson it felt right as their bodies fit perfectly together like jigsaw puzzle pieces. BEEP- BEEP. Her alarm started its morning ritual of high-pitched continuous beeping, the most obnoxious sound that was capable of waking up anyone in a 2 kilometre radius. She knew what this meant. She had to leave the comfort of his arms, this bed, this room and venture out into the world and go to work._

_Behind her Jackson groaned as she leant over, pulling out of his grasp and shutting off the alarm clock. Rolling over to face him she found herself greeted by his beautiful smile, "Morning" he said in a groggy voice.  
__Laughing she replied, "You've only been asleep for ten minutes, doesn't exactly qualify as a new day." He smirked, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in for a deep kiss. She loved the way he tasted. Hesitantly she pulled back, and leapt out of bed. Walking to her dresser, she pulled out some clothes, walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Leaning against the bathroom door she watched Jackson get dressed and then place his hand out expectantly in front of him, "What?"_

"I need my shirt back" he said with the hugest smile on her face. Trying not to smile, she put an indignant look on her face, not wanting him to guess what she truly thought. "Do I need to take it by force?" he quipped, a grin now plastered across her face as not even her stubbornness could conceal it. Laughing she pulled it off and threw it to him, "Happy?" scanning her up and down silently for a moment the smile wiped off her face.

_He was staring at her strangely, making her feel nervous, as if he didn't like what he saw. He saw her body stiffen and knew he had to say something to relax her, he had never seen her open like this, she was always slightly detached, but naked in front of him, she had no shield, no wall to go up. Words couldn't express what he felt, taking a step forward he dropped all that he was holding, grabbed her by the waist, and pushed her up against the wall, kissing her passionately. Drawing back for a moment, Cristina looked into his gorgeous blue eyes, "Join me in the shower?"  
glancing down at the watch on his wrist, he looked torn "I can't. I have to go home before work." He watched her face fall a little, so slightly that most wouldn't notice the change in her expression, "Another time, I promise." Smiling, she placed her palm against his chest, pushing him away, "Go. Before I change my mind." Turning she walked towards the shower, kicking the door shut behind her. _

As she made her way to the residents lounge she could still recall Jackson's eyes on her ass as she walked away from him, and she remembered how happy his attention had made her. She found Mere alone in the Residents lounge sitting on the seat staring up at Izzie's empty cubby hole. Mere turned around as she entered, sighed and mumbled, "All she left was a note."  
"I know."  
Cristina dumped her stuff in her cubbyhole and started to change into her scrubs as Mere continued to mutter, "We saved her Cristina."  
"I know"  
"And Alex..."  
"Yeah."  
"George is upset."  
"Of course he is Mere. They were best friends."  
"And she just left. Don't ever do that to me Cristina."  
Turning to face Meredith she looked her dead in the eyes, smiled and replied, "I won't. I promise." She then began to pull off her jeans and her smile widened as she recalled how much she enjoyed taking her clothes off for Jackson. "What did you do?" She quickly brought her gaze up from the ground and she stared directly at Mere who was now looking her up and down, "What?"  
She watched as a smile spread across Mere's face, "You're bright and shiny."  
"No I'm no.."  
"You had sex didn't you?"  
"I, uh, well." Cristina stammered.  
Mere's face fell as a disgusted look came over her face, "Please tell me you didn't sleep with an intern!"  
"Ew gross. Of course I didn't!" she cried. How could she think that? Well, she was contemplating it a while ago but she moved on from that train of thought and Mere knew that. "Who is it?" Cristina was already in her scrub pants and was just pulling off her singlet as she started to answer. The sound of the opening door stopped her short; she pulled her singlet off over her head and turned to see who it was. Typical. It was Jackson. He stared at her for a second, desperately wanting to kiss her right there and then, rip off her and just, he blushed and looked down at the floor. "Dr Grey. Dr Yang." He nodded in their direction, stuffed his bag in his locker and almost ran out the door.

Meredith looked from the trail of dust Jackson left behind as he exited the room at top speed and then back at Cristina. "Cristina!" she almost shrieked in disbelief, a sheepish grin crossed Cristina's face. "A Mercy Wester?" Cristina nodded slowly, wondering what her person was thinking; she was the only person whose opinion she mattered to her. A smile spread over Mere's face, "Good work. I may be married…"  
"On a post-it note" Cristina interrupted.  
Ignoring her Mere continued, "I may be married, but that is one fine piece of ass."  
Giggling Cristina replied, "Seriously? We don't talk like that!"  
Mere laughed too, "So was he good?" As Cristina opened her mouth to speak she was once again interrupted by the sound of the opening door, this time residents filed in and filled the room; rounds were starting in ten minutes and nobody wanted to be late, not with the cuts. Not wanting to air their private conversation, Cristina cocked her head slightly, trying to tell her with her expression alone. Mere's eyes widened momentarily and her smile changed into a smirk, "Oh. Yang for the win." Both giggling they stood up grabbed their coats and their pages and headed towards the nurse's station. For the first time in a while, they were bright and shiny, no longer dark and twisty; morning sex tends to do that for you, especially with the likes of Jackson Avery and Derek Shepherd.

"Wow."  
Cristina looked up from the patient chart she was updating and look straight at Mere, "What?"  
"He is so into you." She began to tilt her head in the direction that Mere was starting, before Mere quickly added, "Don't" Looking back at Mere she thought for a moment before repeating herself, "What?" Secretly she was glad of the attention, things happened at her apartment but she had wondered if that was a one off thing? Jackson staring at her at work caused her to think that it was definitely more than a one nightstand. Mere answered her, "We have been standing here for about 5 minutes waiting for the attendings and the entire time he has been staring at your ass as you lean over the counter updating that damn file." A smile spread across Cristina's face as she continued writing, she hated updating her charts, but her interns were useless at it, they either had terrible handwriting or were completely oblivious about how to write in a chart, she had the stupid ones for sure. Without looking up she replied, "You do realise that to notice him staring, you have to have been staring at him right?" Hitting Cristina lightly Mere turned her attention to her chart, needing to brush over the details of her case today before she had to present it. "I'm just surprised that it's not you doing the staring." Cristina finished her chart, then grabbed another one from the stack on the neat pile she had made on the nurses' station counter. "Do you like him?"  
"Like who?" A familiar voice questioned Mere and gave Cristina a sceptical look.  
Stammering Cristina started, "Uhm well."  
Luckily, Bailey arrived and summoned him, "O'Malley, you're presenting. Let's go."  
Smiling George leant over the desk, grabbed two charts, whispered, "Tell me later." and wandered off into the patients room.

Only briefly distracted by George Cristina's gaze did not rise, it remained steadily on the chart she had just opened, scanning through the details in front of her reluctant to answer the question. Shutting her chart, she grabbed two more from her pile and walked slowly after George with Mere. Deep in thought, she quickly reviewed what she knew. She loved spending time with him, it was already more than just sex but she wasn't sure if she was ready to make it real, and telling Mere meant that it was real. Once it was real she could get hurt, again, she didn't want a repeat, she knew that this time would be different but that didn't stop her from hesitating before she answered. Watching her as they walked Mere quickly figured it out for herself, "Cristina!" her tone was a mix of mocking, shock, happiness and also hope. She knew that Cristina needed to be happy, but she wasn't sure if Jackson Avery would be the best thing for her. She didn't know anything about him really, he was a Mercy Wester, could she trust him with her person? She knew that Cristina liked him, so she really hoped that he was right for her. Cristina smiled, looked up at Mere and answered her this time with more than just an expression, "Yes, yes I do. But…" Mere would never know what she was going to say as the Bailey cleared her throat, signalling silence. Mere watched Avery walk in with another Mercy Wester; Chuck or Charlie or someone, she couldn't quite remember his name, it was something like Charlie Percy, no that wasn't right, it was Dr Charles Percy. She needed to get on the same service as him, who better to grill about Jackson Avery than his best friend, or friend, or even possibly casual acquaintance.

Mere was hovering in the doorway deep in thought while George presented the old man's case to the room and Cristina tuned him out as she felt Jackson's hand touch hers. Without words she felt at peace with him, his hand was barely touching her and yet she felt alive, she could feel his breath against her shoulder and all she wanted to do was to drop her files and kiss him. Taking a deep breath in she felt her body relax, no longer dependent on his touch; she listened to George talk about possible risks on the surgery of a wipple to the old man and his wife. Today was about surgery, she needed to cut, and she needed Cardio that is what she needed to do today, get a Cardio trauma.

Next to her Jackson stood still deep in thought; thinking about how he needed to think about work, to forget about her for a few hours, which was hard considering he was standing next to her, breathing her in, touching her skin. He needed to get a good case today, to get a good surgery; he needed to not get cut from the program. It was fine to obsess over Cristina in his own time but now he had to focus. As George finished speaking Cristina and Jackson turned towards the door, headed out and then split in two different directions, Cristina went to the ER and Jackson went with half a dozen residents to continue rounding. Jackson tried to push any fragment of a thought about Cristina to the deep corners of his mind and in turn, she tried to block him out of all thought processes, just for a day.


	4. Chapter 4 - Long Hours

Hours had passed since she last laid eyes on him. Having caught a cardio case in the pit that she was able to assist on she forgot about him, about everything. That was the beauty of the OR. Cristina found that when she scrubbed in she scrubbed her mind free of everything, every tiny detail of her life. In that OR all that was important was saving the patient's life, she didn't matter, only her skills mattered, only what she had learnt, nothing else.

But that only applied in the OR, after she scrubbed out her mind was full again, filled with personal crap. She wanted to find Jackson, first Mere but definitely Jackson after. It had been hours since she had touched him, kissed him. However right now food was the priority as Cristina headed down to the cafeteria. Grabbing a salad and a coffee she plonked herself down onto the chair next to Alex. "That surprise party was a complete bust." He moaned.

"Not for some of us." Mere retorted giving Cristina a knowing look.

"How would you know you didn't even go?" Alex replied, completely oblivious to the stare they had just exchanged. Taking a mouthful of his burger he continued, "No drunk chicks to nail."

"I don't think others had that problem." Mere said as Cristina took a sip of her drink, which she quickly spurted out on the table.

"What?" Alex glanced from Cristina to Mere, "Wha.." His pager went off causing him to pause mid-word. Checking it, he sighed and continued, "Damn. It's the clinic." Stuffing the last portion of his burger into his mouth, he stared at his plate for a minute before chucking the fries to Cristina, stood up, grabbed his coat of the back of the chair and walked off.

"So..." Mere started as she moved to Alex's recently abandoned chair.

"I don't Mere I.." Cristina replied not wanting to be grilled by Mere about her escapades with Jackson.

"Not where I was going." She said as she stole one of Cristina's newly acquired fries. "Izzie's back."

"What!?" Cristina almost dropped the fork she was holding. "Since when," spinning her head around to check he was gone, "Does Alex know?"

"No. She told me not to tell him." Mere replied.

"Tell him what?" Both turned to look to see George sit down next to them holding a sandwich and a file.

Exchanging a nervous glance with Cristina Meredith answered, "Izzie's back."

"Wait what?"

"Save it Bambi, been through this already. Let's get to the new part, why?" Cristina interrupted, impatient as ever and wanting to know more.

Giving Cristina a glare to let her know how much he despised that nickname he took a bite of his sandwich and sat silently ready to listen.

"She had this patient from her.." Mere began.

"Where is she?" George interrupted.

"She doesn't want you guys to know." Thinking silently for a moment she decided against her instructions, "The Clinic."

Jumping up George grabbed his stuff, heading towards the clinic at a run.

"When did life get so..." Mere started.

"Complicated." Cristina finished. Sitting quietly for a moment a thought suddenly crossed her mind, "Mere?"

Not looking up from the patient file she was currently filling in she answered "Yes."

"You said Izzie's in the clinic." Cristina remarked.

"Yes."

"Alex just got paged to the clinic." Cristina said finished her trail of thought.

"Shit." Mere exclaimed. "That will not be good."

"Especially if Izzie mentions that you know she's here, and you didn't tell Alex." Cristina added.

"We have to do something.." Cristina's pager started beeping, cutting Mere off mid-sentence. A smile spread across Cristina's face.

"Cardio consult. The pit. Got to go, keep me posted on the Izzie situation." She said pushing her leftover food towards Mere.

"Just leave me. I'm fine not to worry. I can do it by myself, don't need your help." Mere yelled after her as Cristina ran towards the cafeteria doors, ready for another case.

She was just so tired. Her surgery turned out to be 11 hours, which wasn't long by normal standards but when you start the day with a 6 hour surgery and limited sleep the night before they can add up. She was no longer hungry; her tiredness seemed to override everything else. Slowly she walked towards an on call room.

Alex rushed past who, angrily stomping away from the OR gallery. 'I'm guessing he found Izzie' she thought to herself. Usually she would try find out the cause but she was just so tired.

She needed to brag to Mere about her surgery but she was too tired. She wanted to find Jackson but she just wanted to sleep. Everything else could wait sleep came first. Turning the knob on the door handle she found it locked, she knocked and out came a loud cry, "OCCUPIED" from somebody was obviously tied up, evidently not sleeping judging by their tone.

Trudging forward she came round the corner and tried the next door. Luckily this one was empty. Shutting the door behind her she flicked off the lights, kicked her shoes off and collapsed onto the bed. Shutting her eyes, she took a deep breath, smashed her face into the pillow and fell asleep.

"Oh shit sorry." A voice muttered from the direction of the door. Opening her eyes she saw light streaming in from the hallway through the open door, belting down on her face. Moving her head slightly she squinted trying to make a face. In a sluggish tone she spoke, "Jackson?"

The shape stepped forward shutting the door behind him, "Yeah. I can leave I just.."

Yawning she spoke over him, "No stay. You look exhausted." She patted the bed, gesturing for him to come and lie down. Rolling over to face the wall she shuffled slightly, making room for him to lay next to her. Taking the hint Jackson locked the door behind him, kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the bed.

"Cristina.." He began before she quickly cut him off in a sleepy voice, "Later. Shhush. Sleep." Feeling behind her in the dark she grabbed his arm, draping it over her. Leaning forward slightly he kissed her on the cheek and then pulled her into him. She lay still for a few seconds listening to him breathing before once again sleep took over her. It took Jackson mere minutes to fall asleep, his day had been hectic too and lying with her in his arms made his day feel complete. He was content.

Cristina groaned slightly, cracked her neck and groggily opened her eyes. In front of her lay a wall. She turned her head slightly to discover Jackson lying behind her, fast asleep, with his arms wrapped around her. Slowly she sat up, desperately trying not to wake him while squirming out of his grip. She didn't really remember all that much and it took her a minute to regain her semi-awake conversation. She had said later. They were going to talk about it later, when she wasn't half asleep she guessed, but did she have any idea what she wanted to say? Any idea at all?

Glancing down at her watch she saw that she had been asleep for about 5 hours, that was pretty good. Sadly that meant she had to leave. She needed to talk to Mere, to Alex, to George – Izzie returning had probably not been an ultra-pleasant experience, especially if you factor in a pissed off Alex escaping the gallery several hours ago. Was Izzie still here? Or had she left already, she needed to find out. Plus she had rounds in about an hour. Looking around her she surveyed her options, how to move without waking sleeping beauty.

She moved her leg over him, and paused for a moment as she looked down on him. He looked so happy, so peaceful, lying there asleep between her thighs. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek before rising again, ready to move off the bed. BEEP-BEEP. The bedside table lit up as a pager went psycho, flashing and beeping. Leaning forward she grabbed it, quickly shutting it off. Glancing over she saw a confused look on Jackson's face. "What a way to wake up Dr. Yang." He remarked.

"Shut up. It's not my fault you woke up, it's your damn intern paging you at all hours of the day. I was stealth." She said indignantly, only slightly blushing, but in this light, he couldn't tell.

"Uh-huh." Jackson replied, raising his hands to her hips, pushing her down so she was no longer knelling over him but sitting on him. "The kiss was a nice touch."

"How did… wait." She hit him playfully, "You were awake."

"Do you really think I can sleep with a gorgeous woman hovering over me in such a compromising position?"

"Compromising? Hardly."

Raising his hands slightly he pulled off her scrub top and singlet all in one go. "How about now?"

"No." she said with a grin spreading across her face. "Compromising would be if you didn't have pants on." She lowered her hands to the top of his scrub pants and tugged slightly, pulling them down slowly, never breaking eye contact. "Like this." She said as she chucked them behind her onto the floor and slid forward to resume her position sitting on top of him.

"Well that's hardly compromising." He answered, peeling down her scrub pants slowly, over her knees they went and then off completely, and quickly joined his pants on the floor beside the bed. "This might be."

Cristina placed her hands slightly higher and grabbing the bottom of his shirt pulled it off him with little assistance. Chucking it onto the floor to join the rest of their clothes she leant down and gave him a quick kiss before resuming her position.

Looking her up and down Jackson whispered, "Well this is hardly fair. I'm only wearing one thing, you're wearing two."

Cristina leant forward, nibbled on his ear lobe slightly and whispered into his hair, "Life isn't fair." Shifting her head slightly to the right, she kissed him. A kiss full of passion but no urgency, full of desire but barely any lust, it was a kiss full of feelings. She lowered her hands and began to massage his upper thigh, slowly moving upwards. Jackson groaned as her skilful delicate hands got higher, his own hands searching her body. First holding onto her hips, then through her hair, then deciding to make life fair; he moved his hands to her lower back, and quickly brought them higher. His hands eagerly undid the clasp at the back of her bra, and ready to remove the rest of it he whispered, "Now we're even."

Cristina smiled for a second before annoyance passed over her. On the bedside table a pager was going off its head, she leant forward imperceptibly. But was stopped as he grabbed her hips and pulled her back towards him. Not wanting to stop but curious she leant forward, this time harder and faster, not wanting to abide by his wishes. She picked up the pager, which read '911 – Grey, M.'

"Shit." Dropping the pager she slid her hands to her back and hooked her bra together again.

"911?" Jackson inquired, obviously annoyed by this interruption.

"I have to go." Rolling off him she bent over grabbed her pants, pulled them on and quickly pulled her shoes on, not bothering to retie the laces.

"Just stay a little longer." Jackson pleaded as he sat up quickly and watched Cristina dress herself for the second time today. Pulling her top over her head she leant forward and kissed him.

"Finish without me." She said as she grabbed her pager off the table and turned to head out. Jackson's pager went off behind her as she approached the door. Pausing for a moment, she pulled her hair up into a quick bun and took a deep breath, stepped forward and unlocked the door. She pulled it open slightly before it shut in front of her. Behind her stood a fully dressed Jackson who spun her around and pushed her up against the door he had just closed. He kissed her hungrily for a moment before pulling back.

"See you later." He whispered. Softly nudged out of the way by the door she moved to the side as Jackson exited and the door closed behind him. She stood still for a few moments before she pulled herself together, straightened her scrubs, pulled open the door and headed off to find Mere.


	5. Chapter 5 - Evening Plans

Here is chapter 5, finally! I hope that you like it and that chapter six is not a long way behind.  
You will only have to wait about a week or so!  
This chapter is more leading up to the next chapter, so there isn't much Crackson in this chapter, but lots in the next chapter :D

Also if you like this please check out my other Crackson fic, Stormy Weather :)

Jackson had been pulled into a long surgery that was complicated and tiring but he couldn't wait to get his next case. He was heading off to the pit to try and pick up a few good cases before he rounded on his patients and found out what cases Mark would let him go solo on today, or even assist on.

"Avery!" Alex yelled across the corridor.

Looking up from his file briefly, he slowly walked towards Alex trying not to hit any passing nurses or patients.

"Me. You. Tonight Joes?" Alex said standing in the doorway, his foot holding the door open, he was just about to scrub in.

"Uhh." Jackson started eyes on his file, trying to think up some form of a believable excuse.

"Come on, I've barely seen you. There is something pulling at your attention all the time. This is getting ridiculous, we need to go out and get drunk." Alex commanded as he tied his scrub cap up at the back, foot still in the door.

"What about O'Malley?" Jackson answered as he eyes flicked down the corridor. "Oi George!" he yelled down at George who was leaning over the nurses' station grabbing a pen.

Alex shrugged as Jackson looked back over at him, it didn't seem like a bad idea to him. Guys night out, Alex, Jackson and George. A night that would distract Alex from Izzie and Jackson from Cristina, it sounded good, in theory. Plus George was always a good laugh and could be easily beaten at darts.

"Yeah?" George replied stopping a metre in front of them with a file open in his hands, his right hand rapidly moving flicking between pages and scribbling notes.

"Joes, tonight? After our shifts?" Alex remarked, a smile on his face but also impatient to scrub in and start his surgery.

"Really?" George muttered, shook his head and continued, "I mean uh yeah sounds good, meet in the residents lounge?"

Alex looked from George's face to Jackson's, nodding slowly. His eyes rested on Jackson as Jackson continued writing in the file he held in his hands, deep in thought.

Sensing both George's and Alex's eyes on him he looked up, shrugged and said, "What the hell."

"Great, good, sweet, Well I have to scrub in so see you later, I'll page you if my surgery runs long." Alex backed into the door, turned and let the door close quietly behind him.

"Do you know where Cristina is?" George asked as he walked next to Jackson towards the nurses' station to drop off their folders.

"What? Why would I know where she was?" Jackson answered defensively, shutting the file and placing his pen back into the pocket of his scrub top.

"No reason really you would I guess. Just asking." George replied, giving Jackson a strange look and placing his file onto of several others and wandering away from Jackson towards the elevator.

"I just got out of surgery, don't know where anyone is, sorry." Jackson answered, trying to gauge what George was thinking from his body language alone.

George pushed the button and turned back to face Jackson, "That's fine, if you see tell her I'm looking for her."

"Yeah will do." Jackson answered, as he turned and headed off to the pit. 'Shit' he thought. Why on earth did he react like that, George must have an inkling of some form. He may not think they were screwing but he probably thought that something was up. This was not good. How would Cristina act if George brought anything up? Would she act as idiotically as he did? Pushing the door open in front of him he sighed as his pager went off. The pit would have to wait he was needed in the burns unit, this was going to be a long day.

"I need to get stupid drunk tonight." Mere stated, slamming her head down on the cafeteria table.

"Uhm okay, why?" Cristina replied taking a bite of her sandwich and flipping through a magazine article on cardiovascular reconstructs.

"Tequila I think is best." Mere muttered as she lifted her head up and took a sip of her coffee. All the while blatantly ignoring the question.

"So Izzie is actually gone now?" Cristina asked raising her eyes up from her magazine.

Leaning back onto her chair and grabbing the other half of Cristina's sandwich, she took a bite before answering. "She's gone."

"And Alex?" Cristina was actually worried about Alex's reaction to her arrival he didn't seem pleased when she saw him and few hours ago.

"I don't know! I have spoken to him since I last spoke to you." Mere replied. She leant forward, grabbed her coffee and took another sip and Cristina sat deep in thought for a moment.

Mere watched Cristina as a smile passed over her face, "What?" she asked, pulling Cristina back to reality.

"Couldn't you have paged me a few minutes later?" She asked a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"It was an emergency." Mere replied, trying to figure out what Cristina was getting to.

"I know." She sighed. Cristina snatched Mere's coffee out of her hand and took a long sip. "You should get another." She remarked placing the empty cup onto the table.

"You never said what you were doing when I paged you." Mere remarked ignoring the empty coffee cup sitting right in front of her, she took another bite of Cristina's sandwich.

"If you were a few minutes later, Jackson." Cristina answered a grin across her face. Mere had needed her, it was an actual emergency but she really wished that it was an emergency twenty minutes later. But Mere was her person, and she topped anyone and everyone. Even Jackson.

"Why am I not surprised." Mere snorted, scanning the cafeteria. She kept her voice down as she talked, not wanting to give the nurses or interns any new gossip for the rumour mill. Gossip spread through this place and Cristina always lowered her voice when she mentioned anything private, especially when it came to her love life and Jackson was no exception. Mere was pretty sure that she was the only person who knew about this, Jackson may have told someone but she couldn't work out who that would be, he didn't really appear to have a best friend. He had Charles, Alex and George but he may not have told them anything. Cristina certainly wouldn't have told anyone else.

"So drinks tonight?" Cristina asked eyes back on her magazine, scanning the page but not taking any of it in. She had already finished the article and now she was just deep in thought, trying to look busy. The main reason she sat down with this magazine is so others would find her less approachable, and it gave her something to focus on, preventing her mind from wandering.

"Joes." Mere answered watching Cristina steadily flicking through her magazine, her eyes moving but obviously not paying attention to any word or image on the page.

"When?" Cristina muttered, her attention somewhere else.

"Whenever we finish I guess." Mere replied. She was trying to figure out what was on Cristina's mind; she was deep in thought about something. But she couldn't quite work out what, it may be Jackson but it was deeper, more serious than that. Although if it was this relationship was much more intense than she had first presumed.

Looking up from her magazine and at Mere, her entire attention focussed on her now she said, "Ok, but we are not playing darts again. You almost took out a guy's ear last time, and you weren't even drunk!"

Mere sighed, "Fine. I have to go," she looked down at her beeping pager, "Bailey needs me."

"Have fun." Cristina replied finishing off her sandwich. Looking down at her blank pager she smiled as it lit up and started beeping, it was the pit, she loved it when it was the pit. Rolling up the magazine as she stood she stuffed it into her pocket and headed out of the cafeteria. Drinking with Mere sounded good, she needed something to take her mind off Jackson, he was all she could think about lately. One night Jackson free might be the best. Although drunk her might want to show up at his apartment afterwards. It was really just a wait and see.

"I heard that you were going to Joe's tonight with Alex and George" Charles stated a pang of jealousy in his tone.

"Yeah. He dragged me into it. Wanted a quiet night in actually." Jackson replied, not noticing Charles attitude.

"You seem to be having a lot of those lately." Charles remarked as they slowly made their way to the nurses' station to drop off their files.

"Why do you say that?" Jackson handed his file over to Nadine with a smile, leant over the desk and grabbed another one to check over.

"We never hang out anymore." Charles looked sad as he spoke. He didn't have many friends here. He didn't have them back at Mercy West either but here he didn't really seem to be able to connect with the Seattle Grace people like Jackson had.

"You should come tonight." Jackson replied.

"Why?" Charles replied sceptically, finishing up his file and handing it to Nadine.

"Like you said we never hang out. Tonight we will." Jackson held his file by his side as they made their way his patients room.

"Ok… When? Where?" Charles continued walking while Jackson halted outside a room. He turned and paused for a moment waiting for Jackson to reply.

"Residents lounge, after our shifts." Jackson answered walking into the room. Pushing all thoughts of tonight and Cristina out of his head he smiled warmly and greeted Mrs Jones as he shut the door behind him.

"You okay?" Cristina asked Alex as she plonked herself down in the sit next to him in the cafeteria. He was taking a bite of his burger and only briefly looked up at her for a second before returning his full attention to it. Taking the lid off her salad, she took a sip of her coffee and then sat staring at him for a moment, waiting for a reply.

"What? Yeah I'm fine, shut up about it ok?" Alex replied still not looking up. She could tell that he wasn't, he was still upset about it, Izzie was his wife after all. She put him through hell. In these sorts of things people always take sides, maybe they don't declare what side they are on to anyone but everyone does it. On this occasion she was on Alex's side and she genuinely cared, even though many thought she wasn't capable of such emotions.

"Any plans for this evening?" she asked as she stuck her fork into some lettuce and brought it up to her mouth. Taking a bite, she didn't remove her gaze from him and continued eating.

"Yes actually. Why?" Alex finished off his burger and reached over grabbing his water.

"No reason really." She replied, glad that he had some form of company tonight, it wouldn't be good for him to be by himself again. Assuming he would be drinking, that would be good therapy for him.

"Ok sure." Alex said, wondering what she was going to say had he announced that he was free tonight. He opened his mouth to ask her something but Cristina's pager beeped.

"Crap." Cristina jumped out of her seat and ran out of the cafeteria, leaving her salad and coffee with Alex.

Jackson walked into the residents lounge with an odd sense of excitement for tonight. It was weird, he wasn't sure why he felt like this. Tonight was going to be good, getting drunk and playing darts, was just what he needed, what they all needed. Jackson dropped his dirty scrubs in the washing basket and his towel into the basket sitting beside it. Grabbing his keys, phone and jacket out of his cubby, he rummaged through to find anything else that he would need.

"You ready?" Alex asked as he came through the doors his hair still wet from the shower. Walking past Jackson he dropping his dirty scrubs and towel into their respective washing bins.

"I invited Charles." Jackson replied turning to face him, putting his jacket on.

"Nose-dive?" Alex groaned as he rummaged through his cubby, grabbing his keys and stuffing them into his pocket.

"It'll be fun." Was all Jackson said in reply, he liked Alex but it would be more fun the more of them, he wanted to get to know George more, he would know a lot about Cristina and he knew so little. Hopefully Charles could keep Alex distracted, are something to that effect.

"Why do you…" Alex started but let himself trial off as the door opened again and in walked George who was dressed and ready to go.

"Hey." Jackson greeted him with a smile and took a step towards him.

"We ready?" George asked.

Alex stuck his arms into his jacket, zipped it up and then replied, "Just waiting on… here he is." As Charles walked through the door, also out of scrubs and seemingly ready to go.

"We…" Charles began but Jackson quickly cut him off, not wanting to go through it again.

"Yes, let's go now."

Making their way out of the building they were laughing and talking, Alex seemed relaxed, not at all bothered by their company. Jackson lingered behind them as they passed the OR board, he noticed that Cristina's name wasn't on there, he wondered what she doing tonight. Pushing that thought out of his mind he rushed to catch up to George, Alex and Charles before the lift doors shut, leaving him behind.

"That was close." Alex remarked as he slid between the doors and placed himself in between George and Charles.

"What did I miss?" Jackson asked as the elevator hummed and they made their way towards the lobby.

"Charles here thinks he can beat me at darts." Alex replied with a smirk across his face. George chuckled to himself and Charles looked adamant that he was right. The doors opened and they made their way across to Joe's with Alex taunting Charles about his impending defeat, but Jackson wasn't really paying much attention. With one final thought of Cristina he tried again to push her out of her head again. Tonight wasn't about her. Taking a deep breath he looked up at the night sky and quickened his pace. He just knew that tonight would be a night to remember.

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6 - Collision

This chapter follows on immediately after the last chapter, this chapter has more Crackson in it, hope you like it :)  
Next chapter will have a longer wait as I have exams at the moment!

"Cristina! Are you ready yet?" Mere moaned as she pulled her shoes on. Standing up she grabbed everything she needed out of her locker, cubby hole thing and stuffed it into her bag.

"Just one sec!" Cristina replied. She never took this long to get ready, they were just going to Joe's but she had 3 different shirts stuffed into her locker and after examining them, only two were possibilities. She would be ready by now but she was a bit delayed with one of patients taking a turn for the worst in the last few minutes of surgery, she saved his life, as usual. But now Mere was nagging her to leave, it wasn't really her fault, although she had taken awhile in the shower, and then doing her hair and then retouching her makeup and then deciding what to wear. Okay so it kind of was her fault.

"Ready." Cristina stuffed her blouse into her locker, grabbed her leather jacket, put that on and then stuffed a few things to her bag, which she slung over her shoulder as she stuffed her feet into her ankle boots.

"Took you long enough." Mere sighed with a hint of a smile on her face. Cristina never bothered this much about what shirt she wore to Joe's so no doubt she going to meet up with Jackson afterwards.

"I was going to invite Alex." Cristina said as they wandered out the door and towards the lift. "But he had other plans."

"With who?" Mere pondered aloud as she pressed the button.

"Dunno." Cristina muttered deep in thought. Mere was right, she was going to find Jackson afterwards; she couldn't get him out of her head, no matter how hard she tried. It was good that she was going to have a few hours free from all that, just like she did in the OR. With all the Derek drama and her hooking up with Jackson they hadn't gone anywhere outside the hospital in the last few days, well apart from each other's houses. Getting stupid drunk, sounded like a plan.

"So what happened at that party?" Alex asked, his eyes still and piercing, focused on Jackson, then scanning over to George. They had been at the bar near on twenty minutes, they were on their second round of beers and the topic had gone from sport, surgery and now to the party.

"Not much." George replied taking another sip of his drink. He looked over at Jackson, prompting him to give an answer, preferably longer and more detailed than his own.

Seeing George's eyes on him he placed his bottle back on the table and looked over at Alex, "I was barely there. Went for the alcohol and left after an hour or two. It was kind of flat."

"I didn't go. Wasn't invited." Charles added, since no one asked him for his opinion he sounded quite put off. He wasn't invited because he didn't talk to any of them, the only reason Jackson was invited, well he didn't actually know that one. Why was he invited? He pondered that for a moment before Alex's words pulled him out of his thought, forcing him to listen.

"….not quite sure what that was all about." Alex finished with a knowing nod from George. Charles sat deflated, his empty bottle lay on the table as he spun it round and round with one hand.

"I didn't really see much of Cristina really. She disappeared into her room early on and wasn't seen again." George replied, downing the rest of his drink after he finished speaking. Jackson watched the two of them, unsure what it was Alex had said.

"Another round?" Jackson asked standing up. He sat on the end so he could make an easy getaway when things got too dull; his high hopes for the evening were quickly fading. He faced the table waiting for a reply.

"Same for me." George replied, he seemed to be having a good night, it wasn't often that he was invited out with them, he had grown closer to Alex after the whole Izzie thing, and Charles and him were pretty good friends now.

"Cheers." Charles answered, sounded slightly happier by this development. He enjoyed not talking about a party he wasn't invited to.

Hovering for a moment Jackson got impatient. "Alex?" he asked.

"Speak of the devil." Alex muttered to himself. "Yeah, another's good."

"Maybe you could ask them now? Or wait an hour and they will be too drunk to lie, you know how they drink." George said, following Alex's line of sight.

"What?" Jackson wondered aloud. Turning he looked in the direction that both Alex and George were staring. "Shit." He murmured.

Rushing towards down the steps as the rain started to piss down on them, they tore open the door and came to a halt inside the dry. Shivering slightly they looked at one another before both taking off their coats and scarves and heading over to the bar.

"Six shots of tequila please Joe." Cristina said with a smile, the music was loud, the place was warm, tonight was going to be good.

"I'll uh.. go grab us a seat." Mere stammered, cleared her throat and a smirk crossed her face.

"Mere?" Cristina turned towards her, trying to read her expression, but not having any luck.

"Jacket?" Mere said her hand stuck out towards her.

"Thanks. Usual seat if you can." Cristina passed Mere her jacket and then leant forward onto the bar.

"Fancy seeing you here." A voice said from behind.

She recognised the voice, but she was tired and wasn't in the mood to be hit on by some guy, so instead of her usual cool front, she turned her head swiftly and all she could say was, "Shit."

Jackson laughed, leaning forward on the bar next to her, "Same again, thanks Joe."

"I can't ever escape you can I?" she smiled, resting her elbows on the bar again and shifting slightly closer to Jackson.

"So you didn't know I was coming?" he asked, titling his head towards her. Part of him hoped that she did, that she came her on purpose. That she was losing her mind as well, not just him.

"No. Did you?" she muttered softly then raising her voice slightly, "Take your time on those drinks Joe." He gave her a sceptical look, thinking she was complaining about the wait. She flashed him a sincere smile and he moved his eyes from her to Jackson. Immediately he knew what was going on, he had been a bartender for many years, he knew how to read people. He nodded and went to serve another customer.

"No." Jackson replied. A couple pushed past him, drunk, hands all over each other, and their breaths smelt of beer. Jackson moved over to let them have more space, which meant his body was right against Cristina's now. It didn't appear odd to anyone in the bar, it was the perfect excuse for no-one to suspect a thing.

"I should probably go find Mere." Cristina breathed barely able to control herself. All she wanted to do was to kiss him, to wrap her legs around his waist, to have his lips scouring her body, to have him playing with her hair as he brushed it behind her ear. She was losing the battle of self-control.

"Yeah, that might be a fine idea." Jackson replied. He was watching her breath slowly in and out, trying to regain control over her emotions, he saw her knuckles whiten as she balled her hands into fists, to stop them from tearing off his clothes.

"Here you go." Joe handed them their drinks, on two separate trays.

"Thanks" they replied in unison. Jackson grabbed a twenty from his front pocket and Cristina pulled her wallet from her bag and handed Joe a note from within. Turning at the same time, Jackson waited by her side as she scanned the room.

"You have to be joking." Cristina muttered.

"What… oh." Jackson looked around the room and saw Mere sitting in between Alex and George, all four of them laughing and Charles adding a few extra words, causing them to explode in another fit of laughter.

"Act normal." Cristina whispered as they made their way over to their newly joined table.

"They won by 17 points, it was…" Jackson began in his usual tone and smile on his lips.

"Are you talking to me about sports?" Cristina asked, she stopped walking, a look of disbelief on her face as she stood still.

"You said..." Jackson stopped and turned towards her, trying to keep his drinks balanced and not pouring them over whoever walked past him.

"To be normal." She whispered. Starting to walk again, she continued in a more audible tone, "What on god's earth possessed you to discuss sports scores with me? When I have I ever even signalled I gave a shit about organised sports?" dumping her tray down on the table in front of her, she gestured Alex to move his ass over to make room. "So we spending the night with them now?" she asked Mere, raising an eyebrow.

"If you don't mind." Mere replied with a knowing look that was luckily unnoticeable to anyone else.

"Sounds good to me." Cristina smiled as she sat down. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jackson sliding each drink across the table to its owner and then handing the empty tray to a bartender that walked by.

"Shift your ass Yang." Jackson lightly touched her shoulder, pushing her over to make a space for him to sit. She groaned loudly, as she would do for anyone who wanted her to move but secretly she was glad that he hadn't opted to sit beside Charles. Although she didn't know which would be harder, staring across the table at him or having her body pressed up beside his, not being able to properly touch it.

"… and the leg she brought in was freshly shaven with red manicured nails, she completely ignored the fact it was dude on the table." The whole table erupted in laughter while Cristina sat mortified at that memory.

"If I remember it correctly when the leg finally came into the hospital, you stole my surgery." Cristina remarked, the red fading from her cheeks.

"Yep. So much fuss over a leg." Alex smiled. For the last hour they had been bringing up stuff about each other's past, trying hard to shame one another, but in the nicest way possible. They mentioned heart in the elevator, which impressed both Jackson and Charles causing George to buy the next round of drinks in his good mood. Alex was a bit put off but they didn't mention his awkwardness in the elevator nor did anyone bring Burke's name into it. Nothing was said about Izzie, as that was still a delicate subject and any other emotionally traumatizing subject was forgotten about.

"I have to go." George announced as he held his buzzing pager in his hand. Earning a collective sound of 'Aww.' "See you tomorrow!" he said dropping a $20 on the table, "Next rounds on me." He stood up grabbed his jacket off the seat. Charles stood up to let him pass and then dropped down back into his seat as they waved George off.

"At Mercy West it was never like this." Charles said, a look of sadness passing over his face. "I like it here better. People are nicer."

"Damn right we are!" Meredith replied her hand thumping down on the table, she was obviously drunk, time for her to go home. Cristina looked towards the door again, as she had been doing for the last 10 minutes. The door opened up again, and in walked Derek, whose jacket was wet from the rain and a tired look hung on his face.

"Dereeek!" Mere shouted across the bar, her hand waving in the air. Turning to the others as he made his way towards them she sighed, "Well that's my ride. Don't miss me too much." Charles stood up again to let her pass and she stumbled forward, straight into Derek's arms.

"Thanks." Derek said nodding towards Cristina, grateful for the text message she had sent him 20 minutes ago, telling him to collect her. Not only was she super drunk and needing to go home but Cristina had other plans for tonight that didn't involve listening to Mere rant about the same thing 20 times forgetting she had made those points already. Usually she didn't mind, she didn't notice as she was just as drunk as her. Tonight was not usually.

"Then there were four." Charles remarked, "I'll get us another round of drinks. Same again?"

"No more tequila for me, just get me a beer." Cristina answered lowering her hand underneath the table and placing it on Jackson's thigh. She could feel his body stiffen for just a moment but then she felt him relax. A brief smile passed over his face and he slouched down further, getting more of him under the table.

"Same for me." Jackson replied. He had a feeling that Mere leaving meant something. Mere knew about them and normally she wouldn't tell anyone, but drunk Mere was a different story altogether, meaning that Cristina couldn't take her eyes off her. Nor could she discretely sneak off with Jackson or anything like that.

"Same." Alex replied. He watched Charles leave and then turned quickly to face Cristina and Jackson. "What happened at that party? Nobody will tell me anything, did nothing actually happen?"

"Why are you so intent on knowing?" Jackson asked, he found it odd that Alex kept bringing it up.

"I just want to know if I missed a good time I guess." Alex replied. His answer not satisfying Jackson, prompting him to think that Alex might know something about Cristina and him, perhaps not specifically, but something.

Cristina was slowly moving her hand up Jackson's leg running it down to the knee, then further and further up each time as she answered Alex's question, "No screaming matches. Some tears, not much gossip. A few hook-ups, some sex, nothing like the sort of slutty sex that goes on in bar bathrooms though."

"Like you would know." Alex replied. He scanned the bar looking for his next conquest, it was about time he moved on from Izzie. She left, she came back and she left again. That ship had sailed and sank. He didn't notice the look that Jackson gave Cristina before Alex had replied.

"You would know. And trust me so do I." Cristina replied, her hand stopped, lingering, close but not touching. Jackson gulped, it was taking everything he had and she was not making it any easier on him. He wasn't sure if it was what she was saying or what she was doing that was making him lose control.

"Uh don't you want to prove Charles wrong about the dart thing?" Jackson said, he struggled to form the words; his mind was in other places. He moved his hand underneath the table; grabbed Cristina's hand and placed it on her leg. If she continued, there was no telling what he might do.

"Oh right!" Alex responded his eyes still turned away from Cristina and Jackson. Cristina smirked at Jackson, she was obviously winning, he wasn't going to last much longer. But neither was she. Maybe she could excuse herself, say that she needed to go home and get Jackson to follow her a few minutes afterwards. Or maybe she needed another idea. It took Jackson all he had to not look at Cristina, he knew that if she saw that smirk on her face, he would have to kiss her. He needed to kiss her.

"Still think you can beat me?" Alex asked as Charles returned with their drinks.

Placing them on the table he answered, "Yeah."

"Alright then. Let's do it." Alex replied. He grabbed two bottles, one he passed to Charles and the other he kept to himself, took a drink and then stood up.

"We need some rules." Charles said, turning towards the empty dartboards.

"Yeah, though…" Alex replied walking away from the table, out of Cristina's and Jackson's hearing range, Alex trialled off, as he was engulfed in the crowd and the music blaring for the jukebox in the corner.

"Cristina!" Jackson exclaimed in a whisper, he now turned to face her.

"Yeah." She replied silkily, turning her body to face him, moving closing to him.

"It's hard enough as it is, without you…" he trailed off. The stern look on his face faded to a smile as he watched her eye him up and down, yet again.

Cristina leant forward and whispered into his ear, "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Uh okay." Jackson replied, unsure of why she was telling him that in that tone.

"No. I have to go to the bathroom." Cristina whispered again, her hot breath on the side of his face, the smell of her perfume was intoxicating.

"Oh." He muttered, finally understanding what she meant. "3 minutes?" he whispered.

Cristina nodded, she nudged Jackson with her knee, pushing him to stand up as she went past. He stood still, watching her walk through the crowd, that almost seemed to part for her. A few steps later and she had disappeared into the people; all he was left with was a desire to go straight after her. Three minutes was a long time to wait.

Hope that you liked this chapter, it had more Crackson in than last chapter but the last chapter was meant to set up for this chapter.  
As usual please review and let me know what you think :D  
I love to get positive feedback!


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